Redstone Launcher

Juno I with Explorer I
Redstone IRBM
Sparta / WRESTAT

Horizon Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

This is both a new company and a new subject to me, but how pleasing is it to see a quality product from a newish Australian company!

Background

I am not all that familiar with the history and technology of the space race although I recall joining a mob of university colleagues in front of a TV in a science laboratory in 1969 to watch Neil Armstrong take his monumental steps. Three previous kits from Horizon have been for the Convair Atlas , the Mercury Atlas and the Mercury Redstone, all apparently in 1/72 scale.  So for this kit, I will to quote from the company website:

“The Space Race Begins!

During the late 1950s, the cold war continued to increase tensions throughout the world, as both the United States and the Soviet Union had an arsenal of missiles at their disposal, with many more under development. But now the attention would be directed towards space, and who would get there first. The Americans used one of their most reliable rockets – the Redstone – added three more stages to make the Juno I, and mated it with the Explorer I satellite. It successfully launched on January 31, 1958 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, and a new era had begun for the United States. In the coming years, the Redstone rocket would prove to be a very reliable booster, and was used to launch satellites and the first American Astronauts into space.”

From a purely parochial point-of-view, this rocket also helped Australia get its first taste of space with the WRESAT satellite launch from Woomera in 1967.

The flimsy A4 sized end-opening box with a nice rendition of a Juno I launch by Australian artist Paul Renwick Farley, contains:

A finely detailed Redstone rocket with launch stand featuring finely engraved panel lines and bolts consisting of  29-31 plastic plus 14 PE parts

• Parts and decals included to build any ONE of the following versions:

• Juno I with Explorer I, America’s first satellite, or

• US Army PGM-11 Redstone IRBM, or

• Sparta, or  WRESAT missions

• High quality water-slide decals by Microscale

• Detailed instructions

Length:         approx. 293 to 302 mm (11.6 to 11.9 in) (without stand) 

Diameter:     25mm (1.0")

Width:           54mm (2.1") 

The rear of the box contains coloured drawings of the three build possibilities by our own (Australian) Juanita Franzi, and how nice is it to see the artists recognised in the accompanying note from Horizon Models.

The booster kit apparently had be released earlier with a Mercury space capsule on top.

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Thumbnail panels:

Parts are well-moulded in a mid-grey plastic and feature nice surface detail, at least as far as a smooth rocket body is concerned! There are four sprues, actually two sets of two identical ones, two for the payloads and two for the booster body components. This does mean that you end up with a spare launch stand. The modeller first builds the rocket booster body and then needs to decide which of the three payloads she/he wishes to add. 

The PE is for the aerials/antennae(?) on the Explorer I and WRESAT and for details on the launch base and rocket body. Application is clearly indicated in the instructions and colour callouts occur where relevant but no specific brands are mentioned, nor need to be for such a simple set of schemes - either white or olive drab.

The instructions are clear and in the from of an A5 booklet with all the usual pointers for a simple construction path. I was impressed with the clarity of the drawings and clear paths where choices needed to be made. All the usual warnings and caveats about the hazards of the materials used in our hobby are included. It was nice to see the use of degrees of rotation for the location of parts - with a circular cross-section this was neat way to show the part locations. The modeller will need to drill a set of holes in one of the options, and fill some holes in the booster body for all options. The ex-teacher pedant in me picked up a couple of spelling/grammatical errors such as ‘knifes’ instead of ‘knives’, and a sentence starting with ‘but’! but I think I should just ‘put a sock in it’!

Decals are nicely printed as one would expect from Microscale with good density and small excess carrier film and I was especially impressed with the WRESAT symbol with the kangaroo, boomerang and spear - nice!

An all-Aussie company producing 1/72 scale kits of something different has to be a good thing and this is a well-moulded, nicely detailed kit with great clear instructions, useful PE and good decal choices to suit a global market, all at a very reasonably price. Well done Horizon! \

Those modellers interested in space equipment should be well pleased with this kit.

Thanks to Horizon Models for the review sample.

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2018 by Graham Carter
Page Created 23 April, 2019
Last updated 23 April, 2019

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